


I Ship It

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fans & Fandom, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Meta, Metafiction, Past Abuse, Pre-Relationship, Rare Pairings, Self-Indulgent, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-01 07:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16761076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: Jester, a fanartist whose favorite ship is more a like a raft, meets a fellow fan in the form of Caleb in the most unlikely of places.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First, I'd like to thank tumblr users ethala, willydapoo, micklio, and hellopartypeoples for their help on this fic. Their opinions on why they love this ship were a big help.
> 
> Second, I apologize now for throwing shade at a certain much more popular ship. That ship is totally valid, and if you ship it, I'm glad that you are enjoying it.
> 
> Third, I've been wanting to write this scenario or one like it for years, so I hope you all enjoy it even if it's a bit self-indulgent.

Jester sat in the subway car frowning at the blank page in front of her. She knew that she wanted to draw her favorite characters from her favorite fantasy show, The Voyage of the MISTake, but she had absolutely no clue on what they should be doing. There was just enough time to sketch out a thumbnail before arriving at her stop if she started it now, but no ideas came to her.

She flipped through her phone, but it was no use. It didn’t help that her favorite pairing was a rare pair and her ship was more like a raft. Kristoff the wizard and Melody the cleric clearly had a ton of chemistry, but no one else in the fandom seemed to notice it. Jester tapped the paper with her pencil looking around. The subway car wasn’t particularly crowded. Rush hour wasn’t for another hour, which was her usual commute time, but Jester had an early class on Thursdays. 

Zoning out, Jester heard a familiar voice, but she couldn’t quite place it. She looked up to check if there was someone she missed in the car that she had missed at first glance, but there was no one she knew there. Then she heard it again. "Raspberry!" She froze with a giant smile on her face. It was Kristoff saying his nickname for Melody. Someone on this subway train had it as their text alert. This was too good to be true. She kept her ears open in case it went off again so she could see who it was that had it. It was rare to find MISTake fans out in the wild. Or at least it was in her town. Apparently there was a huge following out on the other coast, but not so much where Jester went to school. "Raspberry!" Jester honed in on the source. Across from her a couple of seats away from her was a man staring at his phone. He was a little shabby looking and had orangish hair in desperate need of a haircut. 

Jester stared at him for a long moment trying to decide whether or not she should approach him. He was on his phone after all and most people didn't want to start conversations with strangers on the subway, but he obviously liked Melody and Kristoff and that was an overlooked pairing, so maybe he'd like to talk about it with someone. She nodded to herself. With his grumpy appearance, he was definitely someone who needed a friendly conversation about the MISTake. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself to talk about the show like a calm and normal person and not an over obsessed fangirl. "Omigosh! Is your ringtone from The Voyage of the MISTake? Kristoff and Melody are so the best characters! I really like your ringtone!" Nailed it.

The man was taken aback and jumped a little in his seat. "Uh, yes it is," he said in a Zemmnian accent. "You a fan?"

"Yeah, I'm a huge fan," Jester said. "Especially of Kristoff and Melody! My name's Jester." She shoved hand to be shook in his face.

He took it carefully. "Caleb."

"Hi Caleb! There's no one around here in this city who's into that show which is a major shame."

Caleb nodded. "Ja, that is true. I've tried to show it to a friend of mine but she only got through 2 and a half episodes."

"My roommate's the same way," Jester said. Now the trickiest part, to find out if he shipped it. "So, do you think they should get together?"

"Who?" 

"Um, Kristoff and Melody."

A very intense look came across his face. "Yes, very much."

"Thank you! Everyone online is all about Kristoff and Alby, which is fine, but I don't see how they can just ignore Meloff," Jester said.

Caleb nodded. "Exactly. There is a real chemistry there, and they’re the only ones that can get past each other’s defense. Melody can make Kristoff laugh, and he can see past her cheerful veneer and realize that there’s more that just happy silliness to her."

"I know. And they make such good friends and sure they've fought and all, but they’ve actually made up to each other and are not just tersely going along with each other's wishes," Jester said. "Not that I'm mad about that plot point being completely ignored by everyone."

"Ja, but I think Kristoff and Alby are coming to a better understanding of each other and is probably endgame, but Krisby never really caught my eye. The main thing I ship Alby with is a long healthy life." Caleb's blue eyes shined as the conversation went on. "But there's something about the bubbly healer with the wounded mage and how they make up for each other's weaknesses."

Jester nodded. "Yeah, that and they just want each other to be happy and they are super cute! Like the cutest."

He smiled showing off his dimples. "They are cute."

“So are you active online? Cause you know the ship names.”

Caleb blushed. “A little. It’s a little weird for someone my age.”

Jester shook her head fiercely. “No, it’s not. People should allowed to say what they like and not get crap for it. Besides some of my favorite fanfic writers are like super old and in their forties. But, your secret’s safe with me,” she whispered conspiratorial.

“Thanks,” Caleb said.

This was a moment of awkward silence. “Want to see my fanart?” Jester asked already opening her sketchbook and passing it to Caleb. 

“Sure.” Caleb flipped through a couple of pages and froze looking at. It was of Melody and Kristoff cuddling under a tree while it snowed around them. Jester was particularly pleased with how this piece came out and it was for one of her favorite fanfic writers. “Are you copilot_traveler?”

Jester’s eyes grew wide. “You recognize my art?”

Caleb nodded. “Well, you did draw this one for one of my fanfics.”

“Bestcatfrumpkin?!” People stared at Jester for her outburst, but she didn’t care. Caleb just nodded. Bestcatfrumpkin was right in front of her. She couldn’t tell how many hundred times she’s reread their, his, fics on a bad day. “You’re the best writer in the fandom.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“No, I really would. Even your Krisby coffee shop au was super good and I don’t even ship it,” Jester said.

“I just wrote that as a dare. Still don’t get how that’s my most popular fic.” He turned a few more pages of the sketchbook. “I always look forward to your comments on my updates.”

“Really? All I say is ‘lol, i like the smoochin’.”

“Better than ‘it’d be better if it was of this other ship’ and, ja, I’ve actually gotten that comment. Different fandom though,” Caleb said. “You comment on nearly every fic I write and you’ve even done art for me. That means a lot to me.”

“Well, you write really good stuff and it makes me happy drawing it,” Jester said as the subway train slowed to a stop. She got up at the same time Caleb did. “Well, this is my stop.”

“Mine too.” Caleb slipped his phone into his pocket and adjusted the shoulder strap of his bag. 

They stepped out of the subway onto the street above. “It was, um, nice meeting you,” Caleb said. “Do you mind if I message you on twitter?”

“Heck yeah you can! There’s a new episode on tonight I can’t wait to hear your opinion of it. Well, bye!” Jester waved goodbye to her new in real life friend.

Caleb waved awkwardly back at her. “Goodbye.”

Jester headed in the way of her university only to discover that Caleb was heading in the exact same direction. She laughed when she noticed. “I guess it’s not goodbye quite yet.”

“No, I guess not,” Caleb said. “Are you going to the university?”

Jester nodded. “Yep! I’m a student there.”

“Ah. I’m a professor.” Caleb pulled out his phone at the red light of a crosswalk. “Um, can I show you something? I hope it’s not too stalkerish.”

“It’s not a dick pic is it?” Jester asked waggling her eyebrows.

Caleb turned beet red. “No! It’s just my lockscreen.”

“Okay, show me.” The light turned green so they had to hurry across the street before she could look at what he wanted to show her.

“Here.” Caleb looked away embarrassed.

Jester gasped. It was her picture of Kristoff and Melody under the tree.”You liked it that much?”

Caleb nodded. “Ja, it’s exactly how I imagined it and it was nice of you to draw it. But I can get rid of it if you don’t like me having it.”

“What, no! It’s a compliment. Especially since you’re a really good writer.”

Caleb ducked his head to the side. “It’s just a hobby. I’m not that good.”

Jester frowned at him. She was pretty certain that he was underestimating himself, but she second guessed her art too sometimes.

They arrived at the university. “Well, it’s goodbye for real this time. I hope your classes go well today,” Caleb said.

“Yours too,” Jester called out as she turned to go to her class. She got a few steps away before she turned around. “Caleb! Can I ask you a question?”

Caleb seemed a little startled at first but he settled down quickly. “Sure.”

Jester looked around to make sure there was no one spying on them. “Are there any works in progress you’re working on?” she stage whispered.

Caleb chuckled. “Ja. Between you and me, I’m just finished working on a jazz club au.”

“Ooooohhh,” Jester squealed. “I can’t wait to read it.”

Caleb smiled. “I’ll message you as soon as my beta’s done with it.”

“You’re on!” Jester waved goodbye one last time and ran off to her class. She grinned her brain already coming up with all sorts of ideas for art that could go with what bestcatfrumpkin, Caleb, was writing. The next class was going to be Jester looking up reference pictures between taking notes, but at least she knew what she was going to draw next. It was too exciting: meeting her favorite fanfic writer in person and not only was he not a jerk, but he had the cutest dimples to boot. Maybe she should try drawing Kristoff with dimples.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was planning on making this a one shot, but I was floored by how much people enjoyed the first part, that I continued this AU. I don't completely know yet where I'm going with this, but I hope you all enjoy this.

Caleb had never been a big fan of Thursdays, they always just felt like an unnecessary extra hurdle to getting done with his week. But, that was before The Voyage of the MISTake giving him an actual highlight to the day. And now at 7:28 AM, there was another highlight to an otherwise pointless day. 

The subway door opened and Jester bounded in. Her blue hair flew around as she looked for Caleb and her eyes lit up when she saw him. She practically ran to plop down next to him. “Hi Caleb!”

“Good morning Jester,” Caleb said pulling out his phone. He’d usually put away his phone for someone, but he often had something to show Jester on their rides. It had been 3 weeks since they started sharing their Thursday morning commutes together, but it was already one of his favorite parts of the week. “There’s a song I’ve been listening for Meloff inspiration and I wanted to show it to you.”

“Oooh,” Jesster squealed. “Show me, show me.” She grabbed her earbuds and clicked them into the phone. As she listened to the song, her smile became a frown. “Oh, but it’s a sad song.”

Caleb’s heart fell. He thought that she’d like it. “What do you mean?”

“He talks about sacrificing everything for someone and then she’d be alone without him.” Jester looked at Caleb. “That’s the saddest thing possible.”

“But that just means her happiness is the most important thing to him and that he’d do whatever it takes,” Caleb said.

Jester shook her head. “‘I’d live forever dark and damned, if I could see you spend one minute girl, in wonderland.’ I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone that cares about me even if it means I’d get to be a queen. If someone loved me, I’d want them to be happy with me and I think that Melody would feel the same way.”

“Yes, but this isn’t about what Melody is asking for, but what Kristoff is willing to do for her. Remember that Kristoff’s self worth is nonexistent and he honestly believes he will never ever deserve her.”

“It’s still too sad,” Jester said frowning.

“I’m sorry,” Caleb said. Making Jester sad made him feel like he just kicked a puppy. “Um, do you have any theories about this week’s episode? That was a major cliffhanger last week.”

Jester’s smile instantly turned back on. “Yeah!”

They spent the rest of the ride and walk to the university talking about what they thought was going to happen next. It felt too soon that they were on campus and needed to go their separate ways. Jester awkwardly messed with her bag. “Well, I got to be going.”

“Me too,” Caleb said. Jester started to go and Caleb found himself stretching out his hand. “Wait!” She stopped. “Want to meet up for lunch? I wanted to maybe brainstorm ideas for my next fic.”

Jester bounced up and down. “Really?! I’d love to!”

“Great. 1:30? Meet you here?”

“Yeah! It’s a date!” Jester then rushed off to her class.

Date? Caleb paled. What had he gotten himself into?

****  
Jester had trouble sitting still as the time for lunch got closer and closer. Caleb was super smart and yet he wanted to talk to her about ideas. Sure it was just for fanfiction, but he obviously took his fanfics seriously. He had told her last week just all the research he would put into his writing to make sure that it was accurate. She’d sometimes look up pictures for her art but nothing that serious. So she was nowhere near his league as a creator, but he was asking for her help. It was enough to make Jester scream with excitement.

Jester’s last class before lunch went long and it was past 1:30 before she could escape. She ran all the way to their meeting place and was panting by the time she got there. “Sorry *huff* late.”

“Only by 4 and a half minutes,” Caleb said. “You don’t mind just going to the cafeteria do you?”

Jester shook her head. “Sounds fine to me great, good,” she said tripping over her words. “Sorry, I’m just excited that you asked for my help.”

“Why? It’s just for a fanfiction,” Caleb said. “It’s nothing fancy and I like to hear what you think when it comes to Meloff.”

“Really?”

Caleb nodded as he led the way to the cafeteria. “Yeah, I mean I don’t really know a lot of people into the show let alone Meloff, so until now I had no one to bounce ideas off of.”

“Oh.” Jester tried not to show her disappointment, but she kind of like the idea of someone thinking she could be clever.

“That and your art’s inspiring. I don’t know where you come up with your ideas.”

“I don’t know where you come up with your ideas,” Jester said. “Like the jazz AU was really good and I loved drawing it.”

Caleb blushed. “Ah, well, my neighbor’s been blasting Dave Brubeck lately. I was actually hoping you’d let me write something based on your ballroom sketches.”

“Wait, seriously? Those are just doodles,” she said.

“That doesn’t it stop it from being a good idea, but if you don’t want me to that’s okay.” Caleb looked away.

Jester shook her head. “No, if you want to write it you definitely can.”

“Thank you. Hopefully, I can live up to your expectations.”

They grabbed their food and sat down. “Why do you write fanfiction?” Jester asked as she took a bite of her sandwich.

Caleb mixed his salad more as he thought about it. “It’s relaxing. It let’s me get out of my own head and somewhere else for a while. Why do you do fanart?” 

“Cause it’s super fun and I can make the characters do what I want to see.”

“Like waltzing?” Caleb asked.

Jester set down her sandwich and nodded. “Exactly. Like the idea of Kristoff being a world-class dancer just appeals to me.”

“I figure he’d be a coach who once competed at the top competitions but had to retire in shame.”

“Oh, and Melody is an up and coming dancer that he’s training.”

Caleb nodded. “But her partner twisted his ankle and Kristoff has to step up and dance with her in his stead.”

“And they fall in love!” Jester squealed.

“Of course.” Caleb opened his mouth to say more, but his cell phone rang. He sighed as he looked at his phone. “I’m sorry. This might be a student. Do you mind if I take this?”

“Go on ahead.”

Caleb smiled at her with those charming dimples. “Hello? This is Professor Widogast.” A older male voice came from the phone, but Jester could not hear what he was saying. The blood drained from Caleb’s face. “Oh, Professor Ikithon.” The conversation was one sided with Caleb occasionally saying ‘yes’ or ‘of course’ all while looking he was getting closer and closer to puking. Finally Caleb said ‘goodbye’ and hung up. He trembled and stared at his phone like he was going to throw it.

“Caleb are you okay?” Jester asked. She wasn’t sure if she should touch him or not.

“He called from a different number. I blocked his number, so of course he got a new number. How he could he do this?” Caleb said not seeming to notice Jester anymore. He was paler than Jester had thought was humanly possible.

Jester put her hand on his and he jolted up pulling his hand away. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“Just a call from an old supervisor of mine. It’s nothing,” Caleb said, but he was still shivering.

“You look like you want to vomit.” 

Caleb smiled weakly. It was more like a grimace. “Maybe a little. But I’ll be fine. I just thought I was rid of him.”

“You know, if you want to puke, you can. There’s a garbage can right over there,” Jester said.

Caleb laughed. It was small and weak but it was better than nothing. “I think I can keep it down.”

“Was your supervisor awful?” Jester asked. The way Caleb acted his old supervisor must’ve been the worst.

“It wasn’t a good situation, but I really shouldn’t say more than that.” Caleb looked completely worn out by that one phone call. “I’m not there anymore, though, and I’ve got the Voyage of the MISTake now.”

Jester cocked her head. “The Voyage of the MISTake?” What did that have to do with anything?

Caleb nodded. “Ja, it was the one thing I had to look forward to each week. My friend, Nott, helped a lot too, but the MISTake and writing fanfics for it made the world seem safer.”

“Safer? What kind of supervisor was he?”

“Academic, but I’ve said too much already. Can we just talk about shipping?” Caleb asked. It was almost a plea.

Her heart softened. “Sure.” Jester was always ready to talk about shipping, but she made a point to remember the name Professor Ikithon. Everything about how Caleb reacted to that call put Jester on high alert.

****

Caleb managed to survive the rest of his day. “I’m home,” he called out a he entered his apartment.

Nott, his roommate, looked up from cooking some kind of food (Caleb stopped eating anything she made ages ago. The same went for asking questions about it.) “Cay! How was school?”

“You mean work?” Caleb took off his shoulder bag and hung it up on the wall. “It was okay. I saw Jester again.” Nott perked up. She was glad that Caleb was making more friends and kept asking to meet Jester. Things had been looking up lately, so Caleb didn’t want to dampen her mood by mentioning the call from Professor Ikithon.

Caleb’s phone buzzed and he checked it carefully before answering. It was a text from Jester. “in 2 weeks is the season finale :o wan tto livechat it :D”

“Yes. That sounds like a good idea to me.” Caleb texted back.

Nott tried to look over Caleb’s shoulder to see the text, but he was too tall for her to see anything. “What does Jester say?”

“What makes you think it’s Jester?” Caleb asked.

“You’re smiling. That can only mean Jester,” Nott said. 

Caleb felt his face and he was smiling, but it was hard not to when Jester was involved. “Oh, she’s just asking me to message her while watching the finale so we can get each other’s opinions on what’s going on during the show.”

“Why don’t you just invite her over for it?” Nott asked. “You can watch it together in person and I can meet her and we can have snacks.”

“I don’t want to bother her,” Caleb said. “She might prefer to watch it alone.”

Nott rolled her eyes. “If she wants to talk while watching it then she doesn’t want to watch it alone. Invite her, if she doesn’t want to go, she can say no.”

Caleb blanched. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” Nott grabbed Caleb’s cellphone out of his hands and typed something on it. She showed it to him before hitting send.

“Jjester this is nott calebs rommate should come over heer and watch sho”

Caleb frowned out at the atrocious spelling. “Ja, you can send it, but let me correct the spe-” But Nott already clicked send.

There was a tense moment where Jester was typing something but hadn’t hit send yet. Caleb imagined a hundred ways she could tell him to leave her alone and never speak to her again. Finally the text went through. “are you inviting me over :O”

“Yes, but you do not have to feel obligated to come over, if you’d rather watch it on your own.” Caleb carefully double checked his message and sent it.

“YAAASSSSS I want to comeover!!!!!!!!!!! This will be sooo much fun and i can meet your beta :’D”

Caleb didn’t bother hiding the phone from Nott and showed her the message. “I’ll make snacks!” Nott declared.

“You really don’t have to. I don’t want you to feel pressured.” He also didn’t want Jester to get food poisoning. “I’ll pick up a pizza and some cookies and we’ll all relax.”

“Okay. I can’t wait to meet her,” Nott said excitedly. “I’m so glad you’ve made another friend!”

Caleb smile down at his phone. “Ja, me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the song that they were talking about was "Wonderland" by Angie Aparo which seems like a Caleb point of view song to a certain extent.
> 
> And since I'm recommending depressing music anyways, "Elephants" by Rachel Yamagata I feel fits the part where Ikithon calls Caleb.


	3. Chapter 3

Jester double checked her outfit one last time even though she was already at Caleb’s apartment complex, so she couldn’t change it, but she wanted to make sure she still looked cute. She had on her The MISTake shirt that she made herself, an appropriately sparkly skirt with matching leggings, and a necklace with a little raspberry hanging off of it. And, yes, she did look cute.

She pressed the buzzer. “Caleb, it’s Jester. LET ME IN!!!” It was too exciting for Jester to stand. 

“No need to yell, but ja, I’m buzzing you in.” The door clicked and Jester rushed in and quickly found Caleb’s door.

“Caleb!!” She called out while she was knocking on the door. “It’s Jester. Let-” The door opened causing her to stumble in.

At the door was the smallest and most adorable woman Jester had ever seen. She wore an oversized hoodie and wore one of those operating doctor masks but it had a creepy smile painted on it.

“Hi, I’m Jester! Is Caleb here?”

The woman nodded. “Yes, he’s here. He’s been telling me all about you.”

“You’re Nott, right?” The woman nodded again. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you too!” Jester hopped up and down excitedly. “Caleb told me all about you too and how you’re his beta.”

Nott looked confused for a moment. “Oh, you mean proofreader. Yeah, he has me check all his work, but he’s very smart so I only can help him a little.”

Caleb came into the hallway. He was still dressed in what he was wearing earlier, so like a shabby hobo professor but it suited him. A cat was draped over his shoulder “Oh, you’re here. The pizza got here before you did. I have one last email to take care of and then I can join you,” he said before returning to the room he came from.

The pizzas sitting on the table smelled heavenly, but Jester had business to take care of first. “Nott, can I ask you a question?”

Nott had already stuffed a slice of pizza in her mouth, but she nodded.

“Do you know who Professor Ikithon is?” Jester hoped she was pronouncing it right.

Nott’s eyes grew wide and she took a step back. “How do you know that name?”

“Caleb got a call from him two weeks ago. We were having lunch together and he called and Caleb got all white and scared and shaky.”

“This is bad, this is real bad,” Nott said starting to pace around. “Caleb should’ve told me. I’ll kill him.”

Jester gasped. “You’re going to kill Caleb for not telling you?”

“What no! Caleb is always right and does no wrong. I’m killing Ikithon. Wanna help?” Nott asked.

Jester nodded. “Yeah! But why are we killing him? Why is Caleb so scared of him?”

“That’s probably Caleb’s story to tell, but you keep an eye on Caleb, will you. He means a lot to me,” Nott said. “Oh, and don’t let Caleb know you told me.”

“Ok,” Jester whispered crossing her heart.

Caleb returned to the kitchen. “Sorry, I had to take care of that now or I would’ve been called during the show.” He grabbed a paper plate and grabbed a slice of pizza. The cat was still on his shoulder.

“You know what? I’m just going to eat in my room,” Nott said. “You two have fun without me.” She grabbed the untouched pizza box and ran to her room.

Caleb looked like he was about to say something, but he just closed his mouth and sighed.

Jester grabbed two slices of pizza. “What’s with the cat?”

“Oh, this is Frumpkin.” The bengal cat meowed from Caleb’s shoulder.

“As in the best cat?” Jester asked eagerly.

Caleb nodded with a big grin. “Yes, Frumpkin is the best cat. You can pet him if you’d liked.” He leaned down so Jester could reach Frumpkin.

She skritched Frumpkin behind his ear. “So, got any theories for tonight?”

Caleb nodded. “Come, we can eat on the couch.”

It was more of a loveseat than a couch, but Jester didn’t mind sitting so close to Caleb. There was a comforting presence to him like she didn’t have to be on her best presentation around him. The tv played quietly in the background, as they talked about what they thought would happen and jokingly made bets on who would die(if Kristoff died, Jester had to draw Regency era Meloff; if Cjevy died, Caleb had to write a graffiti artist AU; and if Melody died, they would riot). At some point, Frumpkin wandered off.

“Oh, it’s starting,” Caleb said turning up the sound. Jester sat down deeper in the loveseat not complaining about how her shoulder pressed against Caleb’s. “This is going to be good. I can tell.” Jester had to agree.

****

Nott had been enjoying her book. At least, until what sounded like the scream of a dying animal erupted from the living room. She ran out to find Jester on her knees in front of the tv, the credits rolling, and Caleb staring with his mouth agape.

“WHAT?! WHAT?! That’s the note you leave us?!” Jester shouted. “Cjevy just summoned a demon and Melody joined an evil cult?! What?!”

“Did something happen on your show?” Nott asked not certain she wanted to get involved with this.

“Melody’s god just had her join an evil cult, everything’s on fire, and she kissed Kristoff on the cheek!” Jester fell down on the floor dramatically.

Nott frowned. “So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I think Alby died?” Caleb said regaining the ability to speak. “But, I’m not sure?”

“I’m going to have to watch this episode at least three more times,” Jester said.

“I’m already coming up with three different possible fix-it fics,” Caleb said.

Jester got up off the floor. “I’m going to draw the kiss from three different angles and maybe do a song comic to contain my feels.”

Nott stared at both of them. “Yeah, if you two are going to keep being weird, I’m just going back to my room.”

***

“That was a really good episode,” Jester said. “I’m still freaking out over it.”

Caleb nodded. “Ja, me too. I can’t wait till the next season starts.”

“Same here,” Jester said. She shifted from foot to foot. “Um, Caleb? Can I ask you for a favor? And you don’t have to do it if you don’t want.”

“It depends.” Caleb smirked. He knew he wouldn’t be able to say no to her, but she didn’t have to know that.

Jester bit her lip. “I was kind of wanting to draw a comic, but I can’t write really and I was wondering if you could write me a script. Not a long one, just something super short like a couple of pages. You know of them reuniting.”

“You want me to write for you?”

“It was just a silly idea. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Caleb shook his head. “No, I can write a script for you. It sounds fun.” He’d never done anything remotely like a script before, but he was willing to try for her.

Jester beamed him. “Thank you!” She frowned and scuffed her shoe on the floor. “I guess I should be going.”

“I guess so. It was nice having you over. And I’ll see you on the train next week,” Claeb said.

“Yeah.” But she didn’t sound happy. “The semester ends next month and then it’s summer and then it’s my last semester.”

“Are you nervous about graduating?” Caleb asked. “I bet the advisors of your department are more than willing to give you advice about what you could do next.”

Jester sighed. “It’s not that. It’s more like I just met you and stuff and then I’m not going to see you for forever and then we’re just going to say goodbye again.”

“We’ll still talk online though,” Caleb pointed out though he wasn’t looking forward to no longer seeing Jester on Thursdays either. “If you want.”

Jester pouted. “Yeah, but it won’t be the same. It’s just feels like I’ve made all these friends here and stuff and now I’m leaving them forever.”

“You’ll be back in a few months and then you’ll have four months to still be friends. It’s nothing to worry about yet,” Caleb said.

“Maybe.” Jester looked away. “But I’m still going to miss you a lot.”

Caleb wasn’t going to lie. It was going to hurt a lot when he could no longer see Jester. “I know, I’m going to miss you too. So we might as well take advantage of the time we have together for now.”

Jester smiled though not as brightly as she usually did. “Right!” She leaned in for a moment. Was she going to say something? Caleb waited for her to do something, but she leaned back. “Ah, well, I gotta go!” And she ran off.

Caleb shook his head with a chuckle and closed the door. Nott popped out of her room. “So, you two have fun?” 

“Ja, the show was good,” Caleb said as he started to clean up the mess.

“Ah, good,” Nott said. “I talked to Jester earlier.”

“And what do you think of her?”

Nott fidgeted with her mask. “She’s nice. Jester had an interesting question though. She wanted to know who Professor Ikithon was. Apparently you got a phone call from him.”

Caleb froze in the middle of his cleaning. He tried to come up with some excuse, but all he had was nothing.

“You should’ve told me,” Nott said. “I thought we were in this together.”

“We are,” Caleb said. “But this is my problem, not yours. I didn’t want to worry you needlessly.”

“Needlessly? That man nearly drove you crazy. He technically did. You don’t deserve to deal with him alone.” Nott stomped down her foot with finality.

Caleb frowned. “He’s in another state. There’s only so much he can do.”

“He’s still under your skin,” Nott said. “Ikithon doesn’t need to be near you to do that. You can still get a restraining order. That should stop him from calling.”

“I’m not having this argument again,” Caleb snapped. “I told you before, he’ll take that as a challenge.” Professor Ikithon had too much dirt on him for Caleb to take legal action against him anyways. “All he did this time was call. That’s all.”

Nott frowned. “And what about next time? I don’t trust him.”

“I don’t either, but what else can we do?” Caleb sighed. “Look if he comes here in person, then I’ll look at a restraining order, but I don’t think I have much ground to do so.”

Nott hugged Caleb around his middle. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

Caleb returned the hug. “And if anything happened to you, I’d be lost.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I think I have like 4 more chapters for this story to write and then an epilogue. The plot kind of ran away from me.
> 
> The pace of updates is going to slow down a lot now that Nano's done. I hope to keep working on this fic though.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed this update.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quickly posting this before going to work. Just a heads up, the rating is going to go up to Teen for the next chapter and I'm going to tag some stuff for it soon(that's right, next chapter should be Caleb's backstory).
> 
> Oh and I made a playlist on Spotify for this fic https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2hIrg4iBCleRuPZknPG7IZ

Jester frowned at the sketch before her. She should be working on a class project but she wanted to warm up first and her pencil just wouldn’t agree with her. Though it didn’t help that she was completely stumped by her project. The assignment was supposed to visually show who she was, but she wasn’t sure how to show that. It was weird to pick apart who she was like that. So she ended up drawing more Meloff. That at least made sense; she could say exactly who the characters were and what they were like, but she couldn’t for herself. Her phone buzzed giving her the excuse not to work and also it was Caleb(not that she wouldn’t drop everything for him anyways).

“Hello?” Jester said. She couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes, hello, is this Jester?” It was Nott on the other end of the phone.

Jester nodded and then remembered that Nott couldn’t see her. “Yes it is. What’s going on Nott?”

“Oh nothing,” Nott said, but it didn’t sound like nothing. “Are you available tomorrow for lunch?” 

“Yeah, sure! Why? Do you want to talk girly talk with me?” Jester asked.

“Oh no, I’m completely busy tomorrow, but Caleb isn’t. Would you like to do lunch with him?” There was sounds in the background and then what sounded like Caleb asking Nott something.

Jester smiled. “That sounds great.” She hoped that Caleb wasn’t upset at her for trying to kiss him. But, he never commented on it, so maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

“Great he’ll, oof-” There were sounds of a scuffle on the other side of the call and Caleb going ‘give me my phone’ and Nott shouting ‘it’s for your own good!’ Jester had to keep from laughing.

“Hello?” Caleb asked while there were still sounds of Nott trying to get the phone.

“Hi Caleb! It’s Jester!”

“Jester? Why was Nott talking to you?” 

Jester straightened up. “Oh, right. She was saying that we, you and me, should have lunch together tomorrow.”

“She did, did she?” Jester could practically hear Caleb glaring at Nott over the phone.

“So do you want to? Cause I want to,” Jester said.

It sounded like he nearly dropped the phone. “What? Yes, that sounds fine to me.”

“Okay! I’ll meet you at 1:30 at our meeting place!”

“Ja, see you there,” Caleb said. 

Jester spun around with excitement as she hung up her phone. Sure, it was just lunch with a friend, but just thinking about it made her so happy. And that was all Caleb was going to be, a friend, but that didn’t have to be a bad thing.

****

Caleb was nervous. Why was Caleb so nervous? It was just lunch with Jester. Though it might have been that Jester was his first friend other than Nott in several years. That was probably it. He just had to ignore the fact that she made his heart race and gave him butterflies. 

He showed up three minutes early to meet up with her and spent the whole time trying to calm himself down. Caleb found himself grinning when he heard Jester calling out to him. “CALEB!”

“Hello Jester,” he said still smiling. “How are you today?”

Jester shrugged. “Okay, I guess. I have a super important assignment coming up and just don’t know what I should do for it.”

“Is it a paper? I might be able to help you with it,” Caleb offered.

“Nah, it’s an art assignment. I’m supposed to show who I am, but I have no clue how I’m supposed to do that.”

Caleb frowned. “I don’t know how to help you with that. Art’s not really my sort of thing.”

“That’s alright. I might just paint myself or something, but they’re going to put our work up for a little show and I don’t want to just phone it in.” Jester sighed. “I just need to think about it more, I guess.”

“Sorry,” Caleb said. “So, you’ve had time to think about the finale, you calm down enough for a normal conversation?”

“Hey, you’re the one who couldn’t talk for nearly five minutes afterwards.” Jester shoved him playfully on the arm and nearly knocked him over and had to catch him. “Oh, sorry.”

Caleb dusted himself off and regained his balance. “It’s alright. Let’s go get lunch.”

“Okay. So, do you think Alby’s actually dead?”

“Hard to say, they do have magic, so they can easily bring him back at anytime,” Caleb said.

Jester rolled her eyes. “Resurrection is not the same as not dying.”

“Then yes, I think he’s he’s dead. He took a spear to the chest. That’s fatal.”

“But it could be a fake,” Jester pointed out. “I mean, Dame Mossforest had a copy of herself die in place.”

Caleb shook his head. ”Dame Mossforest was an incredibly powerful necromancer. There’s no way Alby could’ve done it.”

“But I don’t want Alby to be dead,” Jester pouted.

“I’ve already got a fix-it fic in the works. Alby will live ag-” Caleb froze as they entered the cafeteria. Jester was saying something, but he couldn’t hear her. Instead he stared at the picture of a man he knew too well. He pulled the poster off the wall to read it. It was for a special guest speaker that was going to be at the university the next Tuesday. His legs gave out beneath him. Trent Ikithon was going to be at Caleb’s school.

“Caleb?!” Jester shouted. “Are okay?”

His tongue felt thick and he couldn’t breathe. How could this happen? How could Professor Ikithon be coming there? Caleb supposed to safe there, but he should’ve known better. No place was safe when it came to Ikithon.

Jester managed to pull Caleb up. People were gathering around them. “Are you okay? You’re shaking like a leaf.” Caleb nodded not trusting his own voice. She led him to a seat and someone gave him a cup of water. He just focused on breathing while Jester told the crowd that he was doing fine and to give him space. Finally they were alone. “What happened? Are you okay? Do you have blood sugar problems?”

Caleb shook his head and handed her the poster.

“Oh.” Blood drained from Jester’s face. “That’s your old supervisor.”

“Ja.” This could not be happening. Caleb kept hoping that he’d wake up and find out it was a nightmare, but he knew he wouldn’t.

“What are you going to do?” Jester asked.

Caleb closed his eyes trying not to think about it. Tears were leaking out, but he ignored them. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.” He wrapped his fingers in his hair and pulled trying to distract himself.

Jester placed a soft hand on his. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

“No it’s not!” Caleb shouted. “He ruins everything! He’s going to get me again!” He pulled away from her so abruptly that his chair tumbled to the ground.

Jester stared at him with her big round eyes. “Caleb?”

“Stay away! You don’t understand!” He threw his hands down forgetting that they were still tangled in his hair pulling a chunk of his hair out. Fine red hair fell on the ground. Caleb couldn’t bring himself to look at Jester. All he ever did was ruin everything. “Leave me alone!” And with that he turned and ran.

The only thing in Caleb’s head was getting away. He paid attention to nothing as he ran across the campus and crashed into someone. “I’m sorry,” Caleb muttered quickly getting up to leave.

“That’s quite alright,” a posh voice said. “Professor Widogast, correct? I was actually looking for you. I’m Dean Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the third, head of the science department.”

Caleb’s mind raced. What would the head of the science department want with a psychology professor? “How can I be of service?”

“You’ve worked with Professor Trent Ikithon correct?” the Dean asked.

Caleb’s heart started pounding so loud it thudded in his ear. Why did everything have to go back to Ikithon. “He was my supervisor once.”

“Ah. He has worked closely in the past with some … acquaintances of mine: Professor Briarwood and Doctor Ripley,” the Dean said. “Did he ever mention them to you?”

“I don’t remember.” 

The Dean seemed a little disappointed, but he pushed it aside. “Never mind, that’s not what I wanted to speak to you about. You working with him when he wrote ‘Dancing with the Devil: A Study on the Impact of Abusive and Supportive Mentors’, correct?”

“I must be going,” Caleb said as his mind screamed. He had escaped this once; he didn’t know if he could escape that article twice.

The Dean grabbed his arm gently. “Please wait. I wanted to know if you have the contact information for Subject K. It’s important that I speak to him. I believe I can help him.”

Caleb shook his head so hard that his brain throbbed. It had to be a trap. “I’m sorry. I really can’t tell you anything on the subject. I’ve got to go.”

“Wait.” The dean tightened his grip as he pulled something out of his pocket. “My card. If there’s anything you can tell me about that paper, please give me a call.”

Caleb shoved the card into his bag without thinking and retreated. This was just like Soltryce University all over again. All Caleb has ever done was runaway.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, this is where it gets pretty dark. There's references to abuse and some messed up stuff cause Trent Ikithon is an a-hole.

Jester planted herself face down of the couch and cried as soon as she got home. Everything was ruined and Jester didn’t know why. She was pretty sure that she didn’t do anything to trigger what happened, but maybe she did something to make it worse and she didn’t realize it.

Her roommate, Beau, came in for a second, looked at Jester, and immediately left. Twenty minutes later Beau returned with a pint of rocky road. “Here,” she said handing the ice cream and a spoon over to Jester. “If it’s about a boy, I don’t want to hear about it.”

“It’s Caleb. I think he hates me now,” Jester said wiping her eyes, but not moving up from where she lay. 

Beau groaned. “I just said if it’s a boy, I didn’t -ugh, I’m not prepared for your heteronormative drama. Come on, move your feet.” She swatted at Jester’s legs until Jester lift them so Beau could sit down. “Now, not that I care, but what happened?”

Jester told Beau about the poster and Caleb’s reaction and how he yelled at her. “Yeah, he’s crazy and you gotta dump him.”

“We’re not dating, we’re just friends,” Jester said. Part of her wanted to date him, but he probably didn’t want to. Also, their school had a rule against undergrads dating professors.

“Yeah, still crazy and you still need to avoid him like the plague.”

Jester frowned and played with her ice cream. “I don’t know. I think he might be sick.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to put up with his garbage.” Beau patted Jester’s leg. “There’s better guys out there, I guess if you like guys . I mean they’ll still be dudes, but that’s probably better than nothing.”

“I guess,” Jester said, but she was still worried about Caleb.

Beau got up. “And, hey, if you suddenly have a bi awakening, I know some girls that will treat you right. Well, I know a girl that will treat you right, not Keg. Unless you want the night of life.”

“Beau!” Jester giggled.

Beau noogied Jester lightly. “Don’t worry so much. It will work out or some garbage like that.”

****

Nott was cooking. She liked to cook. Nobody liked to eat what she made, but that just meant that there was more for her to eat then. Caleb came in, grabbed Frumpking and went straight to his room without a word. A bad sign, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He might have just been tired.

She poked her head into Caleb’s room to find all of his blankets dumped on the floor and only his top sheet covered him. Her heart sank; it must have been a real bad day. Nott folded up the blankets and set up his laptop where Caleb could see it easily and turned on the third season of the Voyage of the MISTake since it was his favorite. A few minutes later, Nott presented a hot pocket and a fork to Caleb and waited to see what he would do with it.

Caleb grabbed and ate it failing the hot pocket test. If he was even slightly okay, he would have turned it upside down, tear off the bottom and only eat the filling. And if Caleb was actually doing good, he’d refuse to eat it all together. It was going to be pointless to talk to him for a while. Nott pressed a kiss on his forehead before leaving him alone in his room.

Nott finished making her dinner but her heart was no longer in it. Caleb hadn’t had a day that bad since leaving Soltryce. She had hoped that truly bad days were completely behind them, but it seemed they weren’t that lucky. 

After a few episodes, Caleb left his room. “Hi Caleb,” Nott said softly and got up. Caleb clutched his cat closely and looked like the slightest puff of wind would crack him.

“I lost Jester,” Caleb whispered. “The head of the science department is onto me.”

“Oh, Caleb. What do you mean?” 

“Jester hates me now. I’m terrible. And the head of the science department knows it.” Caleb sat down on the floor.

Nott brushed his hair out of his face. “I don’t think Jester knows how to hate. We’ll make it through this.”

“It’s worse than that,” Caleb said. “Ikithon is coming.”

“What do you mean Ikithon’s coming?” Nott’s pulse began to race. “When?”

Caleb stared down at the ground. “Next week to the university. Tuesday.”

Nott swore. They needed her at the antique store on Tuesday. There was no way she could skip. “Can you just stay home?”

“No, there’s meetings that require me and finals are coming soon,” Caleb said.

“Then get a restraining order.”

Caleb shook his head. “There’s not enough time to. I’m sorry I ruined everything.”

“No, you didn’t. You are the victim here.” But he didn’t believe her. He never did. “I’ll see what I can do.” She’d do anything for Caleb. If he’d just let her.

******

The subway was awkward. Jester didn’t know where to sit. For the past weeks, she always sat next to Caleb every Thursday. But after Tuesday, she wasn’t so certain. Caleb never went online after that and he didn’t text her either. She didn’t dare text him herself.

When Jester got on the train, Caleb briefly made eye contact with her with his bright blue eyes, but he looked away quickly. Jester sat in the back of the train for the first time.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She opened it to see a text from Caleb. -I’m sorry.- Jester stared at it not sure how to reply. It wasn’t okay, but she was glad that he was talking to her again.

-You deserve an explanation.- Caleb texted again. -And, if I don’t do it now, I won’t. Can you skip class today?-

-yes- Jester texted back. She’d just get notes from one of her classmates, maybe Calianna.

-Thank you. There’s a coffee shop on campus we can go to. I’ll treat.-

Under any other circumstance, Jester would have been beyond excited. This was the chance to skip class and spend time with a guy she was crazy about. Instead a heavy weight sat in her stomach. Beau told her to not give Caleb any of her time, but Jester couldn’t just ignore him. He needed her help, she knew he did. Or at least he needed somebody’s help and she was who he had.

They walked in silence to the coffee shop and placed their orders with barely a word spoken between them. On any other day, they would’ve been talking about what coffees Kristoff and Melody would’ve ordered and maybe played with a coffee shop AU, but there was just a quiet awkwardness instead. When they sat down, Caleb opened his laptop and showed it to Jester. It was a psychology article by Professor Ikithon. “Dancing with the Devil: A Study on the Impact of Abusive and Supportive Mentors,” she read out loud. The rest was just academic mumbo jumbo to her.

“Ja,” Caleb said. “That article might be Ikithon’s biggest claim to fame. But, I had looked up to him and his work before that. I was his,” he paused for a moment, “assistant at the time. I helped write that article and do the research.

“It was an in depth case study focusing on a young man known as Subject K. Subject K had a good upbringing and was healthy and mentally sound. At the beginning of the case study, he had recently lost both of his parents and an older gentleman with a good standing in the community agreed to be his mentor. But, the man, K’s mentor, was a sadist who delighted in breaking people mentally. The next year and a half for K would be best described as torture. All of his outside support networks were removed, he was gaslighted and manipulated, made to do terrible things, and eventually convinced that the only use he was to the world was to obey his mentor. At the height of this, K’s mentor rejected him, which left K in a deep depression and we have no recorded of what happened to K for three months. He disappeared.” Caleb spoke so clinically, but his hands were shaking. Jester wanted to comfort him, but she knew he’d just pull away.

“When he was found next, he had committed arson and burned down a barn. It had been abandoned so no living beings had been harmed. After that, Subject K was committed to a psychiatric ward. Three days later, he was released into the custody of a new mentor, according to the article. This new mentor treated K with kindness and worked to build him back up, and by all appearances, he was successful.”

Caleb lifted his coffee like he was going to take a drink of it, but he stopped himself. “It was controversial to say the least. Some claimed that Ikithon made it up. Others said that Ikithon should have intervened early on in the study. That if Ikithon knew this young man was being mistreated, he should have stopped it. It was a cruel study.”

“And you helped with it,” Jester said hoping he didn’t think she was judging him. It seemed like he already felt guilty for it, and he couldn’t have stood up to Ikithon about it. He was terrified of his old supervisor.

“I did.” Caleb stared at his coffee. “There were somethings that the article left out. The first and second mentors were actually the same person. It should be noted that the article painted his second behavior as kinder than it was. There was still a cruelty to it all. And it wasn’t the mentor’s treatment that made K better. The credit belongs to a dear friend who would fight monsters for him and K writing fanfics for his favorite show, The Voyage of the MISTake.”

Jester gasped. “You were Subject K?”

Caleb nodded sadly. “I had trusted Ikithon so much at first, but I guess I’m terrible judge of people.” He turned the coffee cup slowly in his hands. “It was Nott who helped me get out of Ikithon’s grasp. She made me realized that I was trapped. We met during the missing three months. I don’t remember much about those days except that she was there protecting me. Ikithon was so mad that I couldn’t remember, but he made it work in the narrative of the article.”

Jester wanted to say something or ask a question or comfort him or something. But nothing felt right or real enough to say.

“I know I’ve done terrible things and that Nott is more than I deserve and so are you,” Caleb said. “So I needed you to know that without a doubt that I’m weak and worthless, but that I liked the short time we were friends.” He got up and started to turn away.

Jester caught his hand. “How can you say that? You’re not weak. You survived. That has mean you’re strong.”

“Because if I was strong, I wouldn’t have let any of that happen. I would’ve seen through him and gotten away from him, but I didn’t. I let myself get trapped and now I’m trapped again.” Caleb looked at her his eyes shining with unshed tears. “He’s going to try something, I know it. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

“What about Nott? Can she help?” Jester asked.

Caleb shook his head. “She works that day and she doesn’t know what he’s like. Nott just thinks he’s going to screw with me and that I’m going to avoid him, but it’s not that simple. He’s going to take me and there’s no avoiding it.” He gently took Jester’s hand and removed it from his hand. “Thank you for your friendship.” Softly, he kissed her on the cheek, leaving her too shocked to move, and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got to Caleb's backstory. I've been waiting for this chapter for a while and I hope you all liked it.
> 
> There should be one or two more chapters to this fic and then the epilogue.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, gang, here it is the final chapter. After this, there's just the epilogue. I hope you all like this. This chapter takes some interesting twists and turns.
> 
> For this chapter, I recommend listening to Capable by The Wild Reeds and Best Girl by Trocadero while reading it.

Caleb blocked Jester’s number. It hurt but not as much as having to ignore her phone number when she kept calling and texting him begging to talk to her and to think it over. Luckily she did not have Nott’s number. 

He made sure that the last weekend he had with Nott was a good one. They spent the whole weekend and Caleb even ate Nott’s cooking. She thought that everything they did was for Caleb’s sake to make him not worry about the coming Tuesday, but really he was leaving her something good to remember. Caleb was going to hurt her so much and this was going to be the closest thing he had to an apology for her. Maybe after he was gone, he could send Jester Nott’s number. The two would probably be good friends for each other.

Part of Caleb was tempted to try calling Dean de Rolo, but who knew what the Dean really wanted. It could have been a worse trap than Ikithon. Even if what the Dean said was true, his help was probably too little too late.

Tuesday started like any other day which didn’t feel fair. It should have started with an air of dread so palpable that all creatures could feel it. Instead it was a sunny spring morning. On his bed, Caleb left instructions on how to take care of Frumpkin. There was no way Ikithon was going to let him keep the cat. He also left a note to destroy all of his old files and records that he never had the courage to get rid of.

Keeping his eyes closed on the subway train, Caleb focused on breathing. When he stepped off the train, he saw Jester. “CALEB!” she shouted. 

He just stared at her. “What are you doing here?”

“You really didn’t think that I was going to leave you alone today did you?” she asked with a little pout. “Somebody has to keep you safe.”

“It’s pointless,” Caleb said. “There’s no stopping him.”

“You escaped him once. Now let’s go.” Jester offered her hand to Caleb and he took it tentatively. She held it firmly and led the way to the university. It felt juvenile, but it also felt safe in a strange way.

Caleb just focused on the feel of her hand. It was real and Ikithon was not in front of him yet, so it was not time to panic. Jester filled the quiet with talk. Not about anything in particular just talking. Her chatter washed over Caleb and drowned out his frantic thoughts. 

“So where do we need to go to first? Oh, do I get to see your office?” Jester asked cheerfully like it was a completely normal day.

Caleb shook his head. “No, I have class first thing today at the Suul building, but first, the water closet.”

“Water closet? Ohhhh, you mean the toilet,” Jester said much too loudly. “Caleb, are you a nervous pooper?” she asked conspiratorially.

Caleb could feel his face turn bright red. “That’s none of your business.” Jester just giggled as he entered the restroom.

He quickly took care of his business and washed his hands. Someone else turned the water off for him. “Thank yo-” His voice died off as he saw who it was.

“Not a problem. I’m just glad I was able to catch you alone,” Trent Ikithon said with all too slick of a smile.

***************

Jester bounced up and down on the balls of her feet waiting for Caleb to leave the bathroom. After ten minutes, she gave up on waiting and barged into the men’s bathroom. “Caleb! Did your hand get caught in the potty?!” But there was no one in the bathroom. She checked all the stalls, but she was the only one in there. Too late, she noticed that there was a second exit for the bathroom. “Oh no.”

Did Caleb ditch her or did something happen to him? He had already told her where his first class was, so if he was trying to ditch her, he was not doing a very good job of it. Jester ran all the way to the Suul building and burst into the first classroom she saw. “Professor Widogast’s classroom?!” But the room was empty. The next five classrooms were just as luckless with either empty classrooms or interrupted classes or in one case a tutoring session (though she thinks the one on one tutoring session might have actually been an illicit tryst).

“Excuse me, are you looking for Professor Widogast?” asked the biggest, buffest goth chick Jester had ever seen. The goth chick was definitely Beau’s type.

“Yeah, I was supposed to help him today and we got separated and he told me the building his class was in but not the class number,” Jester explained.

The goth chick nodded. “I’ve got his class next. You can tag along if you’d like.”

“Thanks!”

There were a couple of students already in the classroom, but no sign of Caleb. The classroom slowly filled, but Caleb never showed up.

“It’s been 15 minutes, should we leave now?”

“Last week when he missed class, he sent an email,” one girl said. “Did anybody get a message from him?” There was a chorus of nos.

Jester’s stomach sank. Ikithon’s lecture started in 45 minutes. That gave her time to prepare. Maybe Jester’s hunch was wrong and Caleb was nowhere near his old mentor, but Jester had a feeling that if she found Ikithon, she’d find Caleb too. And if she was wrong, she could still keep an eye on Ikithon.

If Ikithon had Caleb already, he probably would’ve seen Jester too, and while her outfit was super cute, it was also super easy to spot. She went to the school book store and grabbed the most nondescript school sweatshirt and sweatpants she could find and also a boring beanie to cover her hair. Jester rented a locker and stored her backpack and clothes in it. “Let’s do this,” she whispered to herself.

She thought it was going to be a super sneaky operation, but it was actually really easy to just walk in and get a front row seat. It was a little disappointing. Jester sat there alternating between bored and nervous. Five minutes before the lecture more students filed in and then the seats up front for faculty and other important people started to filled up too.

Finally, Ikithon came in and behind him a subdued Caleb. Caleb never looked up once instead focusing on the two feet in front of him. Ikithon, from what Jester could tell, was being charming and hitting it off with all the important professors and department heads. The whole time Ikithon had an arm around Caleb’s shoulders. 

Soon, everyone sat down and the lecture started. Jester tried to focus on it, but it was just so boring. It was about the impact of relationships in general and the importance of choosing those relationships wisely. When Ikithon mentioned Subject K, Jester bolted up ram straight and listened carefully. She couldn’t help but notice how Caleb gripped the knees of his pants and turned an ashy pale color. Ikithon went on about the healing powers of a good mentor relationship and Jester wanted to jump up and call him out, but that would’ve done nothing to help Caleb. Fortunately the lecture ended soon after that. Students were invited to ask questions during a short Q & A, but after three half hearted questions it became quickly apparent that no one else was interested enough to ask anything.

As Ikithon stepped down from the stage, Jester approached. She had no clue what she was going to do or say, but she had to do something. “Um, Professor Ikithon, do you know whatever happened to Subject K? Is he alright now?”

Ikithon looked down with disdain for a moment but as a dean got closer to him he turned back on the charm. He was once again accompanied by Caleb who stared at the ground. “Unfortunately, I believe he has fallen into a bad crowd and has found himself in trouble again, but he has graciously agreed to allow me to once again study his journey through life. I afraid he may fall further than he had previously and I can only hope he comes to his senses in time.”

Jester’s hand formed into a fist, but she stopped herself from punching Ikithon. “Oh, I hope so too. What do you think, Caleb?”

Caleb looked up for the first time and let out a soft gasp. “Jester?”

*****

Ikithon was right. He was always right and Caleb was always wrong. It was the first lesson Caleb learned under Ikithon’s guidance and one he should not have forgotten. Caleb was stupid to think that he could make it out in the world alone. Who did he have? Nott. And all he was doing was enabling her drinking and kleptomania. She was better off without him. Everyone was. Really, Caleb was lucky that Professor Ikithon was willing to take him back. The words were thick and cloying and made it hard to breathe, but they were true.

But then Jester’s words broke through them. “Jester?” Caleb was certain that Jester was just going to think that he ditched her and that she wouldn’t try to find him again. Yet there she was in what he could only assume was her attempt at a disguise, and she smiled at Caleb brightly even though he was the worst. “What-”

“I’m sorry, but my assistant and I must be going.” Ikithon wrapped an arm around Caleb’s shoulders and dug his fingers into Caleb’s arm. 

“Oh, right, sorry, but I had Professor Widogast’s class this morning and he wasn’t there, so I need to talk to him about my paper that’s due next week and it’s super important,” Jester said.

“You can send him an email,” Ikithon said, “but I should be warning you that he may be joining us back at Soltryce University very soon.”

Jester’s eyes widened. “Caleb? Is that true?”

Caleb looked away not daring to see her disappointment and remained quiet.

“Now, if you’ll excuse us,” Ikithon said pulling Caleb along.

Jester grabbed a hold of Caleb’s hand and managed to pull him away from Ikithon. “I, I don’t think he wants to go with you,” she said stepping between them. Caleb’s heart stopped for a moment seeing her being so bold. He didn’t deserve her, but he was thankful for her.

“Don’t put words in his mouth,” Ikithon said. “We have a plane to catch.”

Jester trembled in front of Caleb, but she didn’t back down. “But, he likes it here and you’re being a bully.”

Ikithon huffed impatiently. “Caleb, we don’t have time for this foolishness. Come along.”

“Caleb,” Jester said softly. “You don’t have to go.”

“Yes, he does,” Ikithon said.

“Excuse me,” a familiar posh voice said. It was Dean de Rolo. “Can one of you explain to me what is going on here?”

Ikithon put back on his charming smile. “I was just explaining to this young woman that my assistant and I need to leave now.”

“Um, I just really needed to talk to Professor Widogast and I don’t think he wants to leave,” Jester said.

Dean de Rolo looked at Caleb. “And what do you say?”

Caleb wanted more than anything to stay, but it was beyond his or Jester’s power. It felt cruel to throw away her bravery like that though. Maybe he could write her one last story, something that could make sense of it all and explain why it was impossible for him to stay(Ikithon would probably forbid Caleb’s fanfictions, but he hoped to steal away and write just one more first). Then he looked over at Dean de Rolo. There was no telling if the Dean really meant what he said about helping, but he might be Caleb’s closest thing to a chance. “I’m Subject K.” Caleb’s voice sounded small even in his own ears, so he repeated himself willing his voice to grow. “I’m Subject K!”

Dean de Rolo took a startled step back. “That was unexpected.”

“You don’t reallythink we’d believe that, do you?” Ikithon asked with a sneer.

Jester grabbed Caleb’s hand and squeezed it softly. “The files and unaltered videos in my apartment should be proof enough,” Caleb said his voice soft and weak again. Ikithon recorded many of their interviews, and when showing them, he used a voice distorter and blurred out the face. Caleb was the one to do that work though and he kept all the original copies.

Dean de Rolo smiled smugly at Ikithon. “I believe you should be going now without your assistant. And don’t worry you’ll be hearing from us soon.” Ikithon sputtered for a moment. “Do I need to call security?” the Dean asked all too smoothly.

Ikithon left with a huff.

“Now,” the Dean said turning his attention back to Caleb, “I amuse you’ll be wanting to press charges. Am I correct in assuming that Ikithon was the first mentor?”

“There was only one mentor, and yes, it was Ikithon,” Caleb said. “I can’t press charges. There’s probably not enough to justify it.”

“You’d be surprise. My wife, the shrudest lawyer you will ever find, has been looking into this for months and believes you may have a solid case. He may not get a lot of jail time for it, but it will ruin his career. His tenure will be forfeit!” The dean cleared his throat and continued. “You’ll, of course, need to have a psychiatric evaluation and if you chose, I believe Dr. Trickfoot would be more than willing to continue to work with you for a discounted price. This will all be up to you thought.”

Caleb frowned and stared at the ground. “Why are you doing all this? You don’t know me or Professor Ikithon.” He looked up at the Dean. “What are you getting out of getting me justice?”

“You got me there. I barely care about Trent Ikithon. His associates, Professor Briarwood and Dr. Ripley, on the other hand I care deeply about, and if I take one out, the rest will shortly crumble. Ikithon was just the easiest target. I’m sorry, but your justice is merely stepping stone for my vengeance,” the Dean said, but he didn’t look embarrassed for being caught.

Caleb nodded. “That’s acceptable, but I need to think about it. It’s a lot to take in.”

“Of course,” Dean de Rolo said softly. “Here’s my card again and my wife’s as well. Please let us know your decision by next week.” He left Jester and Caleb alone.

Caleb could feel himself shaking next to Jester. “Let’s sit down,” she said. Gently, she led him down to a chair.

“You’re amazing,” Caleb said.

Jester shook her head. “No, I’m not. I froze up when it came to Ikithon. I knew I should have said something that would have destroyed him, but I had nothing.”

“But that didn’t stop you,” Caleb said. “Even though you had nothing you still stood up for me even after I’ve treated you so poorly this week.”

“Well, that’s what friends are for, you know.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone other than Nott, so I guess I forgot.” Now he had two friends that would fight monsters for him. “Wait, are we still friends?”

Jester giggled and it lifted his heart. “Of course we are, silly. Nothing’s going to change that. Even when you’re all freaked out and paranoid.”

“Thank you.” Caleb looked down at his hands. “Can I tell you something? A couple of things, I mean. Serious things.”

“You can tell me anything you want,” Jester said grabbing his hands.

Caleb took a deep breath. “Alright. Jester, I have feelings for you. Romantic feelings, i think.” Jester took in a soft gasp. “I’m not done yet. I’d want nothing more than to love you, but I’m not ready yet for a romantic relationship. I wish I was, but you saw what I was like this last week. I can’t have anyone deal with that. I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” She still held onto his hands. “I have feelings for you too, but I think understand. You still need to heal.”

“Ja.” It hurt to admit it. It felt like he was a failure at something that was supposed to be natural. “I’m going to try therapy. Maybe that Dr. Trickfoot.”

Jester nodded. “That’s good. Um, how do you know if you’re ready for a relationship?”

“I don’t know. I just know that I’m not yet.”

Jester let go of his hand and drew her knees up to her chest. “Would it be silly for me to admit that I don’t think I’m quite ready either? That I might have a little more growing up to do?”

Caleb shook his head. “No, I think that’ a pretty mature thing to do. And I think you might be more grown up than people give you credit for. Oh, but I’m not trying to rush you.”

“Thanks. I just mean I don’t really even know who I am yet and I think there’s more stuff for me to figure out before rushing through love and stuff.”

Caleb looked over at her and was disappointed that she didn’t realize how amazing she was. “Well, I think you were my hero today.”

“I was? But that old guy was the one who stopped Ikithon, not me,” Jester said.

“But he wouldn’t have been there if you hadn’t raised that fuss,” Caleb said, “and I wouldn’t have the nerve to speak if you weren’t there with me. So, you saved me.”

Jester’s face turned bright red. “Thanks. And I think I might have an idea for that assignment now. So what are we going to do about us?”

“What do you mean?” Caleb asked.

“Well, if we both really like each other, but we’re not ready yet, what are we going to do?” Jester asked. She grabbed his hand again. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Caleb frowned. He couldn’t handle losing her either. “We can stay friends. If you want to.”

“I do want to. Is it okay if I wait for you to be ready?”

“It might take me a long time,” Caleb admitted. “Months at least, maybe even years. Are you willing to wait that long?”

“For now I am. Is that enough?” Jester asked.

“Ja, that’s enough for me.”

****

The next week found a painting of Jester in a showcase. She was dressed in pink armor with a shield that had a silly face painted on it and she held a giant paint brush like a sword. Behind her stood someone that almost looked like Caleb who she was protecting. Jester got a B on it, but Nott and Caleb both really liked it so it evened out.

That week also found Jester sitting next to Caleb as he nervously stared at his phone. “You can do it,” she said encouragingly.

He nodded, but continued to just stare at it.

“Do you need me to call?”

Caleb shook his head. “No, I have to do it myself.” He took a deep breath and entered in the phone number. “Hello, Dean de Rolo? I’d like to press charges against Trent Ikithon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um, yeah, I was super nervous about the love confession since it has them deciding that it wasn't right for them to date which might not be satisfying for some of you, but honestly Caleb in canon and in this verse needs to heal more before dating. But that's what the epilogue is for. 
> 
> I would love to hear what people think of this chapter.
> 
> Also, I've updated the spotify playlist and played with the order of songs. Here's the link https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2hIrg4iBCleRuPZknPG7IZ


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is the epilogue. I hope will you enjoy and that you've enjoyed this entire fic. Thank you for reading it!

Caleb adjusted his coat again. Jester had picked out his entire outfit for him, so he knew she’d like it, but that didn’t stop his nerves. This date had to be perfect or at least perfect for Jester. She did have to wait nearly 8 months for it(so did Caleb, but they were waiting because of his drama). 

Jester had graduated in December and was sticking around until May while looking for a job. The official explanation was that she felt that there were more opportunities to make networking connections in the college town than back home, but everyone knew she was staying so she could date Caleb. He just hoped that he’d turn out to be worth it.

His therapy sessions had been going well. Better than Caleb had ever hoped. He still had a long way to go, but it was a start. The best part was that Dr. Trickfoot agreed that he was ready test out dating. So this had to be perfect.

“Caleb!” He turned to see Jester hurrying down the snowy street to meet him. 

“Be careful!” he called out, but he knew she wasn’t going to pay him any mind. Caleb still couldn’t believe that Jester agreed to this date. She had told him that she’d wait for him to be ready to date, but part of him always worried that she would come to her senses and change her mind.

Jester slowed down once she got up to Caleb a big smile on her face. “Hi!” A puff of steam came out of her mouth. She was in a pleated universe skirt and purple leggings with a sparkly blue sweater under her pink coat. He noticed that Jester had on her raspberry necklace that had always been a favorite of his.

Caleb couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her. “Hello. You’re not too cold are you? We can go inside now if you’d like.”

“I’m not cold, but sure!” Jester skipped along side Caleb into the ice cream shop. 

“You’re still okay with ice cream right? It’s not too cold for it, is it?” Caleb asked. He should have thought this through better.

Jester shook her head. “I like ice cream and you haven’t tried this place yet even though it’s super good, so it’s a good thing you chose this.”

“Ja?”

“Yeah,” Jester said as she looked over the selection and chose a sundae with so many toppings that just looking at it gave Caleb cavities. Caleb picked a simple hot fudge sundae. “So, how’s your classes going?” she asked as they brought their ice creams to a booth.

Caleb sat down careful not to spill his sundae. “Good. Really good. I’m surprised by how much I missed teaching.” He had been allowed to take the last semester off so he could focus on getting better and to prepare for Ikithon’s trial. And he was glad that he didn’t have to juggle teaching with everything else, but he actually found himself preparing for future courses during his down time. “How’s the job search going?”

Jester groaned. “Don’t remind me. I have to reorganize my portfolio again tomorrow. But there’s a local gallery that’s putting on a show and it sounds like I should be able to submit a few pieces to it.”

“That’s good,” Caleb said. He poked at his ice cream trying to think of some clever conversation starter but he nothing. There were no awkward getting to know you questions since they already knew each other, but they’re usual conversations didn’t feel like date topics. 

Jester sat there in awkward silence as well. She stared at his left hand. “Huh, I never noticed it before but you got a weird bulge on your ring finger.”

Caleb blanched. He tried to forget about that old injury as much as possible. “Ah, I broke that finger and it was set wrong when it healed.”

“How did you break it? Was it doing something cool? Something illegal?”

“I’d rather not discuss Ikithon on a date,” Caleb said staring at the table. Subject K was not allowed to go to the hospital.

Jester gasped. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m super super sorry. Are you okay?”

“Ja, I’m fine. Remembering him no longer ruins everything.” And it was actually true. Ikithon was no longer a dark specter lurking in the back of Caleb’s mind most days.

“That’s wonderful,” Jester said leaning forward. She rubbed her thumb on the back of Caleb’s hand. “So, therapy’s working?”

Caleb nodded. “We’re here, aren’t we?”

Jester giggled. “That’s right.” The awkward quiet returned again. “Soooo, want to talk about how the MISTake’s hiatus ends next week and our theories about what’s going to happen next?”

“More than anything.”

The rest of the evening was back to their comfortable go to conversations, but it felt nice to just know that this was more than merely two friends hanging out; this was a date. The first one Caleb had been on in nearly a decade. 

He walked Jester to her apartment at the end of their night. “Did you have a good time?” he asked.

“Yeha, it was great!” Jester said. “Did you?”

Caleb nodded. Any night with Jester counted as a great one, but this one was especially special. “Ja.”

“So, do we want to do this again?” Jester asked. She sounded hopeful. “Cause I’d like to.”

“I would like to very much,” Caleb said.

Jester beamed melting Caleb’s heart. “Great! There’s a really cool dance club nearby, or we could go some place fancy or go to a romantic beach?” Caleb paled at the overwhelming list. “Or we could just play it slow and go catch a movie.”

“Ja, that sounds doable.” They stood at Jester’s door neither seeming ready to move. “I guess this is goodbye for tonight.”

“For tonight,” Jester said with a smirk. She then stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks Caleb. I’m glad I waited for this.”

Caleb’s cheek burned and he could only nod too shocked to speak.

“Goodnight!!” Jester said cheerfully going inside her apartment.

Caleb pressed a hand to his cheek. It went well; it actually went well. And maybe the next date would go well too. And after that maybe they’d be officially dating. Caleb’s head nearly spun at that thought. He couldn’t handle the thought of a full relationship yet, but another date? If it was with Jester, he could definitely handle another date.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic did not include Nott and I feel a little guilty about that. I'd like to point out that she is the friend that only watched 2 and a half episodes, but she beta-reads all of Caleb's fics because she's gotta support her boy in whatever makes him happy.


End file.
